there's your change, love

The 20p coin that's worth a mint
Specialist collector offers £50 to the first 10,000 people who register one of the rogue coins.

Find one of a batch of rare, undated 20p coins and you could sell it for £50 if you're quick off the mark.

An error by the Royal Mint meant a batch of around 100,000 20p coins were released without the year stamped on them. The last time an undated coin entered general circulation was more than 330 years ago in 1672.

Now specialist coin collectors' company the London Mint Office is offering £50 to the first 10,000 people who find and register to sell one of these rogue 20p coins at its website.

The error involves a mismatch of designs for the 20p. The new-design reverse side (tails) and the old-design Queen's portrait side (heads) have been put on to the same coin, neither of which bears a date.

The Royal Mint confirmed that "a small number of new-design 20p coins have been incorrectly struck using the obverse from the previous design, resulting in these coins having no date", but added they were legal tender and could be used as normal.

Yet spending these coins is the last thing you should do, according to the London Mint Office. Spokesman and coin expert Nick Hart said people who find one should either register quickly and grab the chance to sell now for £50, or hold on to the coin in case the value rises in the future.

"There's no catch at all in our offer," Hart said. "We believe the value of these coins will go up – you could be looking at an auction value of several hundred pounds in 20 years, depending on how many are tracked down.

"We are willing to pay £50 each for them now because we've got collectors lined up who want to buy them and we'll also keep some ourselves as an investment, believing that the value will go up."

Help with identifying one of these undated coins is available at the website, along with a registration form. If you register you will be sent a pack which includes details on how to dispatch your coin and claim your money.

"Once we receive your coin and verify its authenticity we will send you a cheque for £50 within 28 days," Hart said.

Those who register but decide not to sell will be sent a free presentation box. Registration is free, there is a maximum of one registration per household, and only the first 10,000 registrations will be accepted at this stage.

Jill Papworth
guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 June 2009 15.14 BST

SITTING AT MY APPLE

When the screen showed that Nic had been trying to Skype me. All was fine except that I could not hear a word he was saying. Tried all the F keys without luck until he eventually got me on the house phone and we communicated via the phone for 15 minutes! What us wrong??. Any ideas anyone?? Dad

Lovely Mum

What a difference a hair-do makes. Taxi called at 11.40, delivered her to Gill (hairdresser) and collected her for a fiver. Worth every penny. Thanks, Steve! Love from Dad

Imelda May

very impressed with the support band last night.. as seen on Jools

Good Morning Pop

Great to see you yesterday doing so well moving about and that Mum is back to normal.
My news is that the agent for the bungalow in Charlton (1.5 miles across the fields by footpath) has my deposit so I have in theory somewhere to go at the end of July. More news to follow no doubt.
There are three bedrooms at Crestwood, in Farthinghoe Road, so I'll be able to help out when people come to visit Kings Sutton, and we like the Rose and Crown don't we.

I can understand it is no fun for you to have people coming round all the time checking up on you, but please put up with it while it lasts as we want you back to normal and this has all been laid on to give you and us respite while your repair heals.

Any luck getting Jill to come and do Mum's hair as that treatment seems to do wonders for her?



Anyway, today Jeff Beck the guitar player out of the Yardbirds is 65 today and I'm going to see him live tonight with some friends at the Brighton Dome so I'm really looking forward to that.

spot the ball

IMG_1747.JPG
Originally uploaded by patrickhugh.

50p a go

Father's Day Lunch in the Garden

Lunch with the Mujahadeen
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

indoors outdoors.

Dad had a quick trial on the electric buggy yesterday for the first time since the op, and we convinced Mother to lunch outside under the Honeybourne tent.

Out came the family heirloom table and chairs and we set to with charcoal and Sussex lamb from Chichester.

Biggles kept Amy and Jess entertained and Hewsappy got his Canon Sureshot V3 out and took a few photos.

It was all worth coming out of hospital for he said... oh dear something in my eye?

Lunch Out doors

IMG_1735.JPG
Originally uploaded by patrickhugh

What are the chances?

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's today but especially our Dads - the 'Steves' and Grandad. Thanks for all your love and support kissy kissy.

Looks like a sunny day so fingers crossed for a beer in the sunshine.

love Gem & Clive

LennyMollyHughie

LennyMollyHughie
Originally uploaded by patrickhugh

3 hips left out of this lot!

I'm home so call me!

Thanks for a wonderful weekend

What a wonderful weekend that was... I don't remember ever being at a wedding where I was so relaxed and comfortable in the company of family and friends. Thanks especially to my big brother for getting everything organised and of course to his little girl and Clive's family for making it all such a fun event. I only got a couple of shots of the celebrations but hey, sometimes it's nice not to have a camera in yours hands.

Thanks all, and now let's raise a glass to NSS for tackling mum and dad's immediate needs. Looking forward to seeing you re-installed at Kings Sutton Dad, and let's all hope that the arrangements work out to be just the ticket. It's great to have mum stay - she says she can hardly get her clothes off at the end of the day for having eaten so much - but you can tell she'd love to be back at home and put all this moving about to bed.

Progress Hurray..

I called the Northants Social Services at noon Friday from the Horton and they were onto our case with full possession of referrals for both Mum and Dad.

A home visit would be done today to assess Mother!

Dad's ward was getting mopped and with lunch due we made our excuses and headed to KS.

We put a couple of loads of washing on and Mum set to the job of packing a bag for the weekend and I got busy in the kitchen sorting and slinging out any past-it groceries.

Half a wheelie bin later the phone rang and it was our emergency case worker Liz from NSS.
Good news she said, Mum and Dad will both be getting three visits a day from Monday at 10:50, 1.20 and 8pm.
No visit necessary.

Later in the ward, Dad's news was that he was coming out by ambulance at 11am Monday.

Pause for celebration.

A visit to Kings Sutton by Liz on Sunday is necessary for paperwork signing.

Halleluia!

Today NHS

The so called meeting happened today with the NHS hospital Physio only.
The Social Worker had cancelled due to shortage of staff without ringing Pete.
The Physio/Occupational Health guy's remit is to release Dad back to his home and he told us he has no responsibility for Mum.
So it is his concern only to make sure Dad has adequate care for his needs in terms of people coming in to assist and to see to the removal of furniture and rugs in the bungalow which would cause him to struggle with the walking frame.

He would be better to get up to speed on two sticks as there are thresholds to negotiate and limited room for manoeuvre.
He won't be going home until next week now, which will give Dad time to get on his sticks.

Intermediate Care will provide someone to
a) help Dad dress and put out his breakfast
b) cut a sandwich or warm up a ready meal at lunch-time
c) make sure he is ok before bed

They would not be able to do any domestic chores or anything for Mum.
They are limited to 20mins per visit. This 'care' would be for up to 8 weeks but would be withdrawn as soon as he is over the hump.

Peter rang Northants Social Services and arranged an emergency meeting for tomorrow at KS to assess Mum's needs because the primary carer is out of action.

So we will check out of Honeybourne in readiness for this meeting and decamp to KS on Friday..today now.

Peter and Janet have offered to have Mum for the weekend.

Nic and Jen will be checking out tomorrow too.

Vickers Vimy over Honeybourne

Vickers Vimy Info.pdf

Cotton Socks

GrandChildren1
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

Bless..

mauritius wedding millies comment

mauritius wedding millies comment
Originally uploaded by ezappy

Thankyou John and Happy Birthday matey

Flickr Will's photos

www.flickr.com ezappy's Fleece photoset

Cake!

Any cake left for Grandad?

He was chipper and full of it today at the thought of coming home on Friday...eh? what?
Seriously the Ward Sister said he was doing very well!

Meet the parents...

The social services people from Northamptonshire have agreed to come into the hospital on Thursday afternoon with a view to disucssing mum and dad's situation and establishing the options available to the family. We will meet at 4.30pm in the ward and by then there should be a clearer picture regarding dad's mobility from the physio and the nursing team.

Cathy, if you think of any questions, give me or Steve a ring.

When Dad comes out

I have been thinking about the options open to us following Dad's release from The Horton, bearing in mind he will be 'Partial Weight Bearing' on his left hip for up to six weeks.

We have been talking about Home-Care until now, where Social Services or a team from Intermediate Care arrange to call in to Mum and Dad up three times a day to assist with washing dressing and feeding.
The timings of these visits would be in the morning, mid-day and early evening.

Although this sounds adequate, it does not cover times when for example Mum wets the bed as happened on Tuesday morning and I found her crying in her bedroom, and not knowing what to do.
In this situation Dad would be on the phone to me immediately, as happened in Mauritius.

Therefore I think we need to arrange for them both to be looked after in a Convalescent Home and have been recommended to one on the seafront at Rustington, near Bognor Regis.
Rustington Convalescent Home

I telephoned today to see if they would take both Mum and Dad and depending on a doctor's report they would.

I was informed that a twin room was available from 15th of June but that it could not be held beyond tomorrow.

I immediately rang Ward F at The Horton, and spoke to Dad's staff nurse who says he is fine and that she transferred him to the chair next to the bed on her own today.

He has seen the physio also, but she could not say how far he was able to walk.
However, she says it is going to be slow and we need to look at the situation again in a week's time.
She did say that he is too good for a nursing home.

So on that basis I called Jeanette at the convalescent home again and explained that I would call again next week.
She did suggest we download the medical form from their web-page and get Mum's GP to complete it and fax it through to Rustington as GPs are known to be slower than the hospitals- (I've done this) and that they would need the information before a booking could be made. Dad needs to be safe on his crutches or frame, as there is no-one pushing wheel-chairs about from their room to the restaurant for instance.

In the meantime we still have Mother to care for and after that even if they went in on the 15th for a fortnight, there is still another 2 weeks of partial weight bearing.

We definitely need to discuss this at the weekend.

Plan for Weekend

Friday Evening Barbeque at Peacehaven Cottages Honeybourne
MAP Peacehaven Cottages
3:00pm onwards               arrival and check-in
Due to recent events, an impromptu Barbeque
where we all bring some food and drink and muck-in from 5 ish.
MAP Nearest Supermarket Morrisons Evesham
Cathy and family won't be arriving until Saturday as I understand

Basic Itinery for Saturday

3:00pm onwards               Guests begin to arrive
3:30pm approx              Gemma & Clive arrive via car from Mickleton
Welcome Drinks and Photographs
5:30pm                                          Wedding Banquet is served
7:30pm                                          Banquet completes;
Barn is re-set for Evening Celebrations
8:00 pm                                          Evening Celebrations begin
8:30-9:00pm                            Wedding Cake & a Cup of Tea/Coffee is served
11:00 pm                                          Celebrations End

Reception and meal booze provided and thereafter Cash Bar.
Duo to play during the evening from 8:00-10:00pm

Just a reminder that should any of you need to arrange taxi’s from The Fleece
at the end of the night, I would strongly advise that arrangements are made prior to the evening itself. 
Due to rural location, it is often very difficult to get short notice taxi’s late at night. 
MAP The Fleece

latest from kings sutton

Julian arrived today from france and we met up at kings sutton. what a fantastic job steve has done on the terrace which could now be any glorious floral cotswold garden! he has been an absolute star and spent the night here with margaret last night. when i arrived he was busy dealing with a leak in the drains and as far as i know has now gone off to brighton to choccy woccy doodah to get the cake. let's hope he gets a bit of a break too.

we took margaret to the foot doctor in banbury and then on to see hugh in the hospital where he was very chirpy and had obviously charmed the head nurse! hugh and margaret kissed like young lovers when they saw each other!

as far as i understand it from what the nurse said.......:

the hospital are making arrangements for hugh to come home and for home help. because he has been in an oxfordshire hospital he is eligible for that help (someone to come in three times a day) for the six weeks in which he must not put any weight on his hip while it heals. meanwhile, because they live in northamptonshire, their gp must be seen soon in order to process the application for help for margaret as hugh is her primary carer. this seemed to be quite important in order for it to be put in place before some of us return to far away homes and to give those that are closer a bit more support.

i have to return to st john street in oxford later tonight where i am house and cat sitting, but julian will spend the night here with margaret.

right now margaret is eating asparagus and ham on the lovely terrace and enjoying the sunshine. julian is having his first english beer in a long time and all is well.

we are looking forward to seeing you all. my mobile in the uk is 07595 484 768

Classical Gas-bags!

Juliette Stevenson 'plays' the cello 21 minutes and 19 seconds in!

Today

Dad hasn't seen the specialist yet as it's all go in the ward.

He says he got out of bed and into a chair a couple of times but there were no witnesses.
(`us' I mean).
He found it difficult-nay almost impossible and it hurt but he has a sense of humour from being in a ward with the lads.

M&D were both delighted to see each other which makes it all worthwhile.
He's not very hopeful about next week or the party at the moment but I'm waiting to see how things progress.
The concern in the hospital is that he is a carer in normal life so I think he's playing that card to give us a break from having 2 old buggers to heave around.
Saying that Mum sorted herself out this morning with no intervention, and she got ready herself to go out and pushed the trolley round the supermarket ok.
Mum has also had about 3000 calories today
2 poached eggs for breakfast one slice of toast with butter at about 9am
2 or 3 glasses of apple juice out in the garden for 11'ses
1 baked potato out of the proper oven with grated cheese butter and ham at about 3pm
some grapes and
a portion of quiche lorraine with french fries and a cream horn cake with real cream when we came in from shopping at Morrisons after seeing 'the boss' at about 7pm.

I wacked myself out this morning weeding and hoeing and trying to make the place presentable, and the result is good although it's now too dark for a photo.

If someone could call Cathy and keep her in the loop that would be useful.
She's not having a great time of it at the moment and tinternet is beyond the bounds of .. and I'm knacked!

To save confusion

Steve is on duty in Kings Sutton for the moment as Mum needs someone with her all the time.
I'll need relief on Wednesday though as there are a number of jobs for me to do for the wedding reception.

No offer refused!

Dad gets out of bed today but I don't know how he will bear up. Fingers crossed.